Such is the principal residence of King Alfonso of Spain. The royal ceremonial is under the direction of the Master of the Household and the Lord High Steward. These officers are always persons of high birth, who are invested with the honours of the Order of Charles III. and the Golden Fleece. The Chief Equerry of the royal household takes the position of Master of the Palace when that functionary is absent, and controls the King’s hunt, and directs several minor officials of the Court. The Chief Chaplain to the King is the Archbishop of Toledo. One of the principal members of the household is the Keeper of the Queen’s Wardrobe. Then come the Lords of the Bedchamber, Maids of Honour, and the Mayordomos de Semana (of the Week). The military officer in command is the General of the Royal Halberdier Guards, and this functionary presides over the ceremony of opening the palace doors at six in the morning and closing them at eleven at night. In Spain the royal residences are regarded as fortresses, and protected by troops. The Intendant-General of the Royal House and Patrimony holds a responsible post, and administers the King’s estates and incomes. Other officials are the Private Secretaries, the Director of the Royal Stables, the Chief Physician, the Chief Chemist, the Chief Architect, the Secretary of the Signet, the Secretary of the High Chamber, Keeper of the Archives, the Chief Librarian, the Director of the Royal Armoury, and the Chief of the Tapestry Collection. The gentlemen of the Royal Household wear a badge of office in the form of a silver key, and are clad in special uniforms for various occasions. Pomp and ceremony attend the movements of the Spanish sovereign, and there is an elaborate “Court Guide” embodying all the ordinances and regulations governing the life at the palace. The rigidity of etiquette in the Court of Spain has, however, been exaggerated in the accounts written by strangers since the time of the Countess d’Aulnoy, for a modern Spanish writer asserts that the Court is “more democratic than most European Courts.” This writer says: “Almost all the points of etiquette observed at present by the persons who have access to the King and Queen and members of their family are merely formulas of pure courtesy, with which those who are aware of them comply, but which are not imposed at the Palace, nor even mentioned to those who do not know them. Taking the glove off the right hand in order to shake hands with the King; treating him as is his due; rising when he rises and not speaking to him except in reply to his questions; these are the chief points to be observed, and which courtiers themselves sometimes forget without any notice being taken.”